A Turtle Tale
by Raphaelfanguy4real
Summary: just a little Christmas One-shot I wrote! it's a twist on a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but the plot is mostly different. I hope you enjoy and Happy Holidays!


_**Just a little twist on "A Christmas Carol' Turtle style! I hope you enjoy this Christmas fic!**_

"Raph come on!" Mikey called, Raphael rolled his eyes and ignored the younger turtle, turning a page in his comic book. "Please, Raph!" the excitable ninja skipped into view, a red Christmas hat swinging on his head. "I'll let you wear the Rudolph nose!" he said temptingly, holding out a pair of antlers on a headband and a large red pom pom. Raph rolled his eyes again and threw his comic down.

"For the last time, Mikey!" he said in annoyance. "I said _no_."

"You never do it with me!" Mikey whined, giving Raph the puppy dog eyes, which he ignored. "Donnie did it last year, and Leo did it the year before that! It's your turn! I need a picture of all my bro's with me!" Raphael sighed, getting to his feet.

"No, Mikey!" he snapped, pushing past his brother. "I'm not dressing up as a stupid reindeer for your stupid scrapbook!" he snarled, grabbing his sais. "Tell Leo I'm going out!"

"On christmas eve?" Mikey asked, jutting his lower lip out in a pout. "Raph, christmas is a time for family!"

"Yeah?" Raph turned back to look at him, "well this turtle wants some time to get _away_ from his family!" with that, the red masked turtle turned on his heel and stormed out of the lair, running to a ladder and climbing to the surface. Stinking Mikey with his reindeer antlers, he knew Raph wasn't going to dress up for a stinking scrapbook. The red masked turtle climbed onto the top of a building, smiling despite the frigid cold. A run always cleared his head and made him happier, and it's not like Raphael loved being a grump around the holidays. But with Mikey bugging him about antlers every spare moment they got, it was hard not to. "Stupid antlers." Raph muttered, wishing his brother had never found the old christmas costumes. Raphael picked up the pace and jumped over a rooftop, skirting around a patch of ice gingerly. It was cold, and his breath puffed out in front of him, Raph grinned. Suddenly the turtles foot slipped from underneath him on a patch of black ice and he gasped, falling backwards. The turtle felt sharp pain as his head connected with something hard and cold, then the world went black.

When Raphael awoke, he groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. Then he nearly screamed in surprise when he saw someone sitting in front of him, eyes wide.

"Oh, good. You're awake." the person said, Raphael blinked, staring.

"M-Mikey…?" he wondered, staring. "Um...why are you nine years old again?" Mikey chuckled, shaking his head.

"Raphael, I am not your brother." he said, Raph blinked. "I am a spirit-"

"The shell? What is this, a convention?" Raph frowned, "the shell are you talking about!" not-Mikey sighed, shaking his head.

"I'm the spirit of christmas past-" Raph laughed, interrupting him. Not-Mikey looked at him in surprise.

"From that stupid movie you always try to get me to watch?" he chuckled, "yeah no thank you, cut it out Mike, how'd you de-age yourself?" Mikey sighed, shaking his head again.

"Raphael I don't think you understand." he said, holding out his hand. "Come on, I want to show you something." Raph frowned and let him pull him to his feet. Then he realised it was snowy, the shell? There was no snow, how had it gotten here?

"How long was I out?" Raph grumbled, rubbing his head. Mikey swatted his elbow and pulled him toward the edge of the building.

"Pay attention, Raphael. This is important." he said with wide blue eyes, Raph scowled and looked to where he was pointing. "I told you, I'm the spirit of Christmas past, this christmas was when you and your brothers were five years old. See down there? That's your Master Splinter." Raphael's eyes widened and his breath caught as he saw the rat in a robe, sliding through the shadows to a dumpster.

"S-Sensei!" he gasped, jumping down into the alley. "Y-you- how are you here? I thought you were...sensei?" but Master splinter walked right through him, and Raphael's eyes widened. Mikey appeared next to him, shaking his head sadly.

"Raphael, he can't hear or see you. Just watch. You'll see." he said, Raph frowned and turned to watch Splinter, who was digging through the dumpster.

"Hey, ain't this the year that Mike wanted a special robocop action figure whatever?" Raph asked, arching an eye ridge. "And sensei somehow found one, brand new in the package?"

"Be quiet and pay attention." Mikey -the spirit, whatever- grabbed Raph's head and pointed it at Splinter again. Raph watched as the younger Splinter shook his head sadly, turning to leave down into the sewers.

"He giving up already?" Raph asked eyes wide. "Father, wait! You gotta keep lookin', Mikey still has that toy yer supposed to-"

"He can't hear you." Mikey said again, putting a hand on Raph's shoulder. "Just wait, Raphael." Raph sighed, watching as Splinter pulled up the manhole cover. Suddenly, a light was shone into the alley and Raph whirled. Splinter froze as well, and they saw a young woman standing there, shopping bags in her hands.

"Hello? Are you alright?" she called, then gasped when she saw Splinter. "Oh…"

"I did not mean to startle you, ma'am." Splinter said softly. "I was just returning to my home, it is not easy for a being such as myself to find christmas presents for my sons…"

"Sons...children?" the woman asked, Splinter nodded slightly, "kids need a christmas, here. Take these. I was going to donate them to the homeless shelter, but a lot of people do that. I have toys and treats." Splinter's eyes widened and he gingerly accepted the bag, then backed back into the shadows. The woman smiled. "Merry Christmas, sir!" she called, then walked away and disappeared. Raph's eyes widened. Holy Shell, he'd never known this happened! Splinter stared at the bags disbelievingly and then climbed into the sewers. Raph made to follow him, but Mikey grabbed his arm, shaking his head.

"Come this way, it's faster." he said, and before Raphael could ask what he was talking about, they suddenly vanished a reappeared in the lair. It was just like it had been when they were kids. A small makeshift christmas tree stood where the tv was now, they hadn't gotten it until they were around seven years old. He glanced up at the grate to see it was morning. The shell?

"Okay, this is a dream isn't it." Raph snorted, nodding. "I'll wake up and it's still gonna be freaking july, I'm in a coma right." Mikey rolled his eyes, then pointed to where a pile of young turtles was sleeping in a mound of blankets. Raph smiled.

"I remember that, we stayed up all night waiting for santa." he chuckled, shaking his head. "At least we thought we did, I bet we were asleep by ten. I remember Leo told us all stories while master splinter was out…" he trailed off with a smile. "Good times." they watched as the four turtles were woken by their father, and their eyes grew wide as they saw the gifts.

"Santa Came!" Mikey gasped, tumbling over to it. "Guys, He really came! Let's open them! Let's go!" Raph chuckled, then gasped as the spirit Mikey grabbed his arm again.

"Yeah, you and your brothers were really close, weren't you?" he asked, smiling sadly. "Come on, I have a quota to meet, man." Raph blinked and they were suddenly standing in the dojo, he watched ten year old him performing katas.

"My son, it is christmas. You do not need to practice." Splinter entered, watching him in surprise. Young Raphael looked over, halting.

"Sensei...Leo's already two levels ahead of me." he said softly, "I wanna catch up before the new year, remember?" Splinter frowned, stroking his beard.

"Raphael, do you not want to watch the christmas specials with your brothers?" he asked in surprise. "Last year you quite enjoyed it." the young Raphael sighed, rolling his eyes.

"No offense Sensei, but that's just it. I watched them last year, I don't need to watch them again." he got into stance again. "Especially not when I'm behind on my training."

"You are not behind, you are one level ahead of Donatello and Michelangelo." Splinter pointed out.

"And two behind Leo." Raphael added, starting a kata again. "I'll come out when you read us the book, sensei. Alright?" Splinter sighed, but nodded.

"Very well, Raphael." he said, walking out again. "If that is what you want."

"You were so focused on catching up to Leo, that you didn't spend time with your family." Mikey said, looking over at Raph.

"Well, I had seen the specials already, and I was behind Leo." Raph shrugged, watching the younger him practice. "Still seems logical to me." Mikey sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Fine, maybe this last one will help more." he mumbled, grabbing Raph's arm once more. Before Raph could protest, they were standing in the kitchen of the farmhouse. He frowned.

"The farmhouse? Why did you bring me here?" he asked in annoyance. Mikey gestured for Raph to follow before walking up the wooden stairs of the house. They walked to the door of the bathroom and Raphael's eyes widened as he saw himself, sixteen, sitting on a stool beside the bathtub. Mikey, Donnie, April, and Casey stood by the door as well, looking sad. No one spoke. "I don't get it, Mike, what is this?"

"This is your sixteenth christmas." Mikey replied sadly, shaking his head. "You wouldn't leave the bathroom all day. You sat there thinking about all the great christmas memories you had with your brothers and splinter, and this year you didn't have Leo or Splinter there, you didn't celebrate." Raph scowled, remembering the sadness on that day.

"Geez, Mike, why do you have to bring that up? It was one lousy christmas, everything turned out fine. Leo woke up, we got Sensei back, the next christmas was great." Mikey sighed, shaking his head.

"You just don't get it Raph." he said. "You never know when your family's going to die and leave you alone, but you refuse to spend time with them now. I'm warning you, You'll miss them when they're gone." Raph glared at him.

"You aren't even Mikey, are you! You're just some dream I'm having! Get outta my head!" he snapped, slashing a hand through Mikey's misted form. To his surprise, the spirit vanished and he found himself once more on the rooftop where he'd fallen. "The shell?"

"There you are, should have figured Past would run late." a voice muttered, Raph turned in surprise to see Donatello standing behind him, but he was probably just another dream.

"Don?" he asked incredulously.

"Christmas Present, actually." Donnie said, Raphael scowled in annoyance. "Come on, we're running late. There's a few places you need to visit tonight." he grabbed Raph's arm like Mikey had and they were suddenly in central park, where there was a choir singing.

"What the shell are they doin' this late at night?" he wondered aloud, scowling. "Gonna get sick, aren't they?" Don snorted.

"Not likely, they have coats. Only cold blooded reptiles would get sick in this weather." he reminded Raph. "unlike in the past where you just were, there's no snow, here." Raph frowned, but had to acknowlege the spirit was correct.

"So what the shell am I doing here, again?" he muttered under his breath. The spirit slapped him in the back of the head and he yelped indignantly. "Hey!"

"Pay attention, Raphael." the spirit said, pointing toward the choir. To Raphael's surprise, he saw two familiar faces. Then he remembered, April and Casey had said they were doing some charity event in central park tonight...Don was supposedly here watching. Raph glanced sideways at the turtle beside him, who was checking a watch.

"Uh, Don? This a joke?"

"Any second now." he muttered, Raph rolled his eyes. Then a flicker of movement in the trees made him turn in surprise, Don was there...so how was Don also right next to him? Another slap in the back of the head. "Genius, I told you. I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present, pay attention would you!" Raph looked back up at Donnie, who was watching the singers wistfully from his perch, a scarf around his neck.

"Didn't realize he wasn't in the lair." Raph muttered, frowning. Had anyone noticed? As he watched his brother, Donatello pulled out a small bag and tossed it swiftly over the crowd into a small basket, the collection basket. Raph's eyes grew wide. "He's throwin' away money when we're broke enough as it is? What's Donnie thinking?" he growled, "he knows we need-" The spirit slapped him again and Raph rubbed his head. "You really need to stop doing that." the spirit shrugged.

"Raphael, that Money isn't yours, or Mikey's, or Leo's, or even April or Casey's. It's Don's. he saved that money all year so he could feel like he was giving back."

"We literally saved earth twice this year." Raph muttered. The spirit shrugged.

"Donatello has a kind heart, you know that." he said, "kinder than yours, I can see." Raph scowled.

"What are you-" but the spirit grabbed his arm and they vanished again, Raph stumbled as they reappeared in the lair. "Shell! Stop doing that without war…" he trailed off as he saw who else was there. "Ning...me…" Mikey was sitting on the bench in the pit, shoulders hunched sadly. His 'santa' hat was on the floor next to him, abandoned with the antlers and pom pom. "Mike?" as he watched, Leo walked out from the dojo and sat next to the orange masked turtle.

"Mikey, what's wrong? It's christmas eve, I thought you were going out with Donnie?" he asked gently, Mikey shook his head, and Raph was shocked to see tears in his eyes.

"Mikey! What's wrong!" he gasped, running over, only to run straight through his brother. Oh yeah, stupid dream. He glared at the spirit who was watching him in amusement. "What is this?" the spirit just pointed at Mikey.

"I...I don't wanna…" Mikey whispered, wringing his hands. Leo frowned, looking at the antlers.

"He said no...again. Didn't he?" Leo sighed, looking back at Mikey, who nodded. "Mikey, come on, you don't need him in your-"

"I do, Leo!" Mikey burst out, looking up tearfully. "I...what if he's not here next christmas? What if you and Donnie aren't here? What if I'm not here?" Raph's jaw fell open in shock, as did Leo's. "We could have died ten times in the past three months! I want to have as much fun with you guys as possible...but I also wanna have you in my book so I'll never forget...what you look like!" Mikey burst into tears and hugged Leonardo tightly. "What if Raph does something stupid and gets killed, and I don't have a matching picture with him?"

"Mikey, Raph's just…" Leo sighed, shaking his head. "He's going to stick around for a while, trust me."

"What if he doesn't?" Mikey asked, Raph felt his heart break and he also wanted to slap the smug smile off of Spirit-Donnie's face. "What if there's an accident?"

"Mikey, I ain't going anywhere!" Raph said, kneeling in front of his two brothers. "I'm right here! I'd never leave you…"

 _well this turtle wants some time to get away from his family!_

"Ah, shell." Raph muttered, waving his hand in front of Mikey's face. "Mike, please! I'm sorry, I didn't know why you were…"

"Can't see you!" the spirit said, walking over to Raph. "and you can't change this, it's happening as we speak. You _already_ hurt Mikey."

"Shut up!" Raph jumped to his feet angrily, pointing a sai at the spirit. "You don't know anything! This is a stupid dream and Mikey's probably jumping around the lair singing about freakin grandma reindeer running over the eggnog or something so just shut up!" The spirit watched him impassively, which only infuriated Raphael further. He lunged at the spirit, and as soon as his weapon burst through, he was once again standing on that rooftop. He scowled. "The shell kind of dream is this anyway?" a sudden ominous feeling hit him and Raphael spun around, eyes wide as he realised the night was darker and cloudy, and his mouth dried when he saw a figure standing behind him, a black mask over his cobalt eyes, black katana at his hip.

"Leo? What are you-" Leonardo held up a hand and Raph fell silent. Then he sighed internally. Alright, so if Mikey was the ghost of Christmas Past, and Don was the ghost of Christmas Present, that meant that Leo was the Ghost of Christmases yet to come, or whatever. Not that he'd ever actually watched the show. At all. "So, you the future creepy guy?" Raph asked, raising his eye ridge at the spirit. "Gonna show me my dead body and-" Leo held up his hand again, but was suddenly close enough to grip Raph's arm. "The heck?!" he vanished and Raph found himself in the lair...it was dingy and unkempt. The bean bags were gone and so was the tv set, a small undecorated tree sat in the middle of the room. His three brothers sat around it, silent.

"Wh-what is this?" Raph choked out, eyes widening. Mikey was missing an arm, Leo was blind, Don...was a robot! "The shell? Donnie!" he ran over, but once again it was like Raph was a ghost. He spun angrily at the spirit. "Get outta my head! I don't want this nightmare!" he snarled, Leo just pointed at the three of them and Raph turned to listen as Mikey spoke. His voice was low, tired, and his baby blue eyes lacked any light.

"Well, another christmas come and gone." he said softly, shaking his head. "If only Splinter were here to see it." Raph scowled. Where the shell was he? Where was the future him?

"Lemme guess, I died and they don't miss me." he muttered, but the spirit Leo just shook his head and pointed back at his brothers, Raph turned to listen again.

"I'm personally grateful that Sensei can't see me like this." Leo rasped, running his fingers over the ground. "Us like this."

"I'm not that ugly." Donatello quipped in a robotic voice, earning small smiles from both brothers.

"I dunno, Don, that scratch he gave you makes you look awful." Leo snorted. If Robots could look offended, Raph could have sworn he did.

"And I suppose you can see that, eh? Christmas miracle?"

"Nah, I told him all about it." Mikey said lazily, leaning back. "But Leo, didn't you notice this tree's crooked? Last time you get to decorate." Leo made a face and Raph couldn't help but smirk in amusement, it soon left however. Where was he? He looked again to the spirit Leo, who was watching him with cold eyes, it sent chills down his shell. Raphael shuddered. He turned back to his brothers, wondering what on earth had happened to them.

"Well excuse me, Michelangelo." Leo said in offense. "But ever since he cut off your arm, you've been useless too."

"I can still juggle." Mikey pointed out. Leo snorted and shook his head. Raph frowned. Who was this 'he' they kept mentioning? "You can't, not after he took your eyesight."

"Can we not talk about...him...tonight?" Don asked softly, robot body slouching. The other two looked guilty. "It's bad enough we don't have Splinter...but I just...I'd prefer to think he died in combat. Instead of becoming...the shredder." Raphael's eyes widened in realization. No. shell, no way!

"In a way he did die in combat." Mikey said softly, running his knuckles on the ground. "Raphael is gone, Don. But I bet he would have set up the tree straight." they all chuckled at this, but Raphael's mind was whirling. What? He...he couldn't be the shredder! No! That wasn't possible! This was just a stupid stupid dream!

"Get away from me!" he said angrily at the Leo dressed in black, who was now at his side when a moment earlier he'd been yards away. "I hate you! Get away! This isn't true! This will never happen! Shell, this is a stupid nightmare!" The spirit shrugged, nodding back toward the entrance to the lair. Raph turned and was paralyzed in fear. A dark shape dressed in metal stood in the shadows, arms crossed and a smirk on triumph on his face. "no...No!" he spun around. "Guys! Run! He- I- Run!" the three brothers couldn't hear him, of course, and continued teasing and laughing with each other as the turtle in metal stalked silently toward them. "RUN!"

"I should have known you'd come here for the holiday." the older Raphael hissed, just before a blade slashed out and caught Mikey in the back, blood spurted and the turtle fell dead. Leo and Don jumped to their feet, weapons out. But how would Leo be able to fight? And Don was made of metal, he was a robot! Raph stared helplessly as his brothers were struck down. The person committing such a crime laughed cruelly and wiped off the blades on his gauntlets before turning to Raphael. Raph's eyes widened. He could...this future him could see Raph now… Raphael spun to look at the Spirit Leo, but he was gone. When he turned back around the blade was already coming for him, and he cried out in pain as he fell to the ground.

Raphael jerked upright, panting heavily and eyes wide. Then he blinked. What...what had happened? He was sitting on the roof, next to that patch of black ice he'd slipped on. His head hurt like shell...crud. What time was it? Raphael pulled out his phone and his eyes widened in shock. It was five in the morning. Leo was going to kill him! The red masked turtle jumped to his feet and turned toward home, when he remembered the insane dream he'd had and frowned. That nightmare...it had been so real. He shivered and thought of Mikey, who was so worried he'd never spend another christmas with Raph. And what had Raph done? Pushed him away, what if he'd died tonight? The last thing he'd have told Mikey was that he wanted to get away from him...Raph looked down as his t-phone buzzed, expecting it to be Leo. It wasn't. He answered with shaky hands.

"Hey, Mikey." he greeted, then paused. "Uh, Merry Christmas little brother."

"Raph! Holy shell, Leo's going crazy! Where are you?" Mikey asked, then paused. "What?"

"Merry Christmas!" Raph called into the phone, jumping down into an alleyway. "Isn't that what they call today? Christmas?"

"Raph, you've been gone all night. Where are you?"

"Currently?" Raph glanced around, his eyes fell on a dumpster and he smiled. "Christmas shopping. You?"

"Trying to keep my phone from Leo, hey!"

"Raphael!" Leo snapped.

"Save it fearless, I'll be home in a few minutes." Raph sighed, walking over to the dumpster and lifting the lid. "It's christmas, did you really think I'd miss a holiday?" Leo didn't answer. "Thanks for the vote of confidence there." he snorted, eyes lighting up when he saw that the dumpster was full of comic books. "I'll be home soon, Leo. Ninja's honour."

"You...better." Leo sighed, then hung up. Raph tucked the phone back into his belt and fished out a comic book, the first edition of Mikey's favorite. No way, just lucky. Or maybe a christmas miracle. Raphael chuckled as he tucked the book into his belt and turned to a manhole cover, eye catching on something else in the dumpster. He grabbed it without hesitation and jumped down into the sewers, racing toward home.

When Raphael arrived, his brothers were all in the pit by the small tree they'd set up. It was crooked and Raphael grinned, jumping over the turnstiles. They looked around at his chuckle and Mikey's face immediately lit up with joy and surprise.

"Raph! You found one for yourself!" he cheered, jumping to his feet. Raph swept the elf hat off his head and bowed dramatically. "Come on, we waited for you!" Raph replaced the hat and jumped down into the pit, glancing around.

"Who set up the tree? It's crooked." he said.

"Shut up." Don said, rolling his eyes. "I tripped last night, if you must know. After looking for you." Raph frowned.

"About that-"

"Not now, guys!" Mikey said, kneeling in front of the tree. "First, presents!" he picked up a box and threw it at Leo. "it's from Donnie, probably gonna be boring…"

"What?!" Don yelped indignantly, Raph laughed and shook his head, smiling widely. "Excuse me, just wait until he opens it!" Leo opened it to find a book. Raph tried to hold back more laughter, Leo grinned though.

"Hey, it's a book of japanese parables!" he gasped, eyes lit up. "Nice, Donnie!"

"You next Don!" Mikey chucked a small package at Don and the turtle unwrapped it, as soon as he did it exploded with a bang and a puff of confetti. Mikey burst into laughter. No need to say who that was from, Raph chuckled.

After ten more minutes and two more explosions, each brother had three presents unwrapped. Mikey giggled as he played his new video game with ice cream kitty, Raph sat next to him, frowning a bit.

"Mikey…" he said softly, Mikey looked over smiling.

"Yeah?"

"About last night. I'm sorry, I didn't mean what I-"

"Past is the past, Raphie-boy!" Mikey sang, shaking a finger at him. Raph shrugged, pulling the comic from his belt.

"Yeah, alright, so do you not want this mint condition first edition…" he glanced at the cover. "Whatever this is?" Mikey's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"WHOA!" he gasped, taking the book gingerly. "How'd you _find_ this?" Raph shrugged.

"Christmas miracle, I guess." he said, pulling out his t-phone. "And I owe you one more thing…" in a moment he'd plopped the santa hat on Mikey's head and pulled up the camera on his phone. "Say Pizza Face." he poked Mikey in the stomach and then snapped the camera. The image showed him with a sly smirk, the green elf hat nearly falling from his head, and Mikey snorting in laughter, eyes shut, with the santa hat sloppily balanced on his. Raph smiled when he looked at it, it was perfect.

 _ **well there we are! please give me your thoughts in a review and have a very merry Christmas! until next time -Jelly**_


End file.
